Miss Jamaica Festival Queen 2021 Dr. Dominique Reid has launched her national outreach project titled “Project Healthy Smiles Jamaica”.
Dr. Reid, a dentist who is passionate about oral and dental health, aims to generate a greater appreciation for dental knowledge and better oral health practices among young Jamaicans, and has therefore geared her national project towards this.
“I believe the Festival Queen stands among all queens, not only as a cultural ambassador for Jamaica but as a nation builder. Therefore it is only fitting that I use this opportunity that this national platform has given me to make that difference ‘One tooth, one child and one smile at a time’; thus Project Healthy Smiles Jamaica was born,” Dr. Reid said.
Project Healthy Smiles Jamaica is primarily geared towards providing free preventative dental care for 590 children, aged six to 12, from across the island, to mark Jamaica’s 59th year of Independence.
The project will be undertaken in two phases: with phase one involving school tours, which will focus on dental education sessions via Zoom, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information; and phase two involving the actual administration of preventative dental health care to children including dental examinations and teeth cleanings.
Though the project is currently being rolled out in the Festival Queen’s home parish of Manchester, children aged six to 12 from across the island may visit any of the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission’s (JCDC) parish offices island-wide to register for the free preventative dental health care.
In outlining her national project Dr. Reid also highlighted her project’s sponsors, and how detrimental their support was her project - a long held dream, finally coming to fruition. These included her national sponsor Lasco Financial Services, and her parish-level sponsor Future Energy Source Company Limited (FESCO) as well as several of her parish's business stakeholders and other notable donors.
LASCO Financial Services Marketing Manager, Danielle Harris-Drysdale shared that their partnership with the JCDC supports the Commission’s mandate to develop and promote the creative talents and the cultural expressions of the Jamaican people.
“Lasco Financial Services is delighted to be associated with the JCDC Festival Queen Competition and national project. We are pleased that this competition continues to instill and highlight our island customs and practices through young women. These same young women who are poised to become beacons of our society through their future role as leaders who will be able to act as an ambassador of Jamaica and ensure that generations to come will learn, acknowledge, persevere and sustain the true essence of who we are as a people,” Harris-Drysdale said.
“For the past two years Jamaicans have been preoccupied with the pandemic, and a lot of that preoccupation has taken a toll on our health and safety, so it’s quite relevant that this initiative ‘Project Healthy Smiles Jamaica’ re-focuses us on other elements of our health that we have somewhat neglected. This initiative also envelops the Lasco Financial Services tagline, ‘Everyday Financial Value’, and so we are also excited about the possibility of how it will impact everyday Jamaican lives by encouraging a healthy lifestyle through preventative health care”, Harris-Drysdale continued.
The national launch of Project Healthy Smiles Jamaica was hosted virtually via Zoom and other online streaming platforms from the JCDC’s Head Office on Thursday, October 14, 2021.
